Children of the Noorthi by Erica Lawson

Author:Erica Lawson [Lawson, Erica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781927328163
Publisher: Affinity Ebook Press NZ LTD
Published: 2014-11-03T07:00:00+00:00

†

We made our way through the city quickly and quietly. I thought Vel would have had a parade for capturing me, but no, she was more intent on getting me to her ship. Was she afraid I would escape? Suddenly I felt happier, because she scared the shit out of me.

The ship at the spaceport was opulent, to say the least. It wasn’t for practical purposes but more for lavish comfort. Why was I not surprised? Vel wanted the whole universe to know she was in charge. I followed the guards into the interior and whistled low. I hadn’t seen anything like this. It was a palace, or so I imagined, since I’d never been invited into anything fancier than a local governor’s office. In the center of the ship was one large room with six equally large chairs.

“Sit down.” Vel pointed to a comfortable chair facing away from the cockpit. Who was I to argue? It was a hell of a lot better than hanging by my fingernails. Vel sat opposite me and reached for her seatbelt. “Buckle up.”

I struggled to put the seatbelt on as my wrists were still bound together by the manacles. I just locked myself in as the ship took off. “The locals aren’t going to like this.”

“Like what?”

“You’re breaking curfew.”

“Screw ’em,” she snarled.

“Tsk, tsk, Vel, breaking the law like that.”

She laughed. “I was wondering where that smart mouth had gotten to.” Vel touched her belt, and I felt the manacles fall away from one another. “Relax.”

I suppose I had no choice. After all, where could I go? I was surrounded by guards on a ship I assumed was about to hyperjump to Juno. I relaxed about as much as a person going to their death could. And I knew there’d probably be a lot of pain and discomfort before that happened.

Death? Did you say death?

I could hear the fear in Rice’s voice. What did you expect? A slap on the wrist? Besides, you’ve already died once, what’s once more?

It’s the pain leading up to the death that I’m worried about.

Me, too, Rice. Me, too.

I shifted my hands from my lap to rest them on the seat and rotated my shoulders as I did so. Before the manacles had even touched the seat’s surface, they pulled my wrists down and magnetized them to the armrests.

“Can’t have you wandering around free now, can we?” Vel grinned at me, clearly enjoying her manipulation of me.

“No, we can’t,” I said with a little hint of sarcasm.

Vel sat there expectantly. I think she was waiting for some pithy remark from me, so I decided not to oblige her. I just stared at her until her eyes turned away. “Aren’t you the least bit curious about what’s going on?”

“Nope.” Of course I wanted to know what was going on, but my job here was to piss her off as much as I could. Not playing her game was a good start.

“Your loss.” She turned her attention to activating a small screen attached to her chair.

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